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NSL 21-hour disruption: Kudos to the heroes who toiled overnight to restore service!

Thanks to the efforts of Emergency Responders from the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), working closely with engineering teams from the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Public Utility Board (PUB) and SMRT, train service between Ang Mo Kio and Newton station was restored at 1.50pm on Sunday (Oct 8).

This comes nearly 21 hours after services were disrupted on Saturday afternoon, reports The Straits Times.

“SCDF received a call from SMRT at approximately 7:07 pm last night, requesting assistance for a flooding situation in the tunnels between Braddell and Bishan MRT Stations.

In a protracted overnight operations, SCDF Emergency Responders worked closely with the engineering teams from LTA, PUB, and SMRT to pump out the water from the affected areas.

At approximately 11.00 am today, the water in the tunnels had been completely cleared. SCDF has concluded its operations.”

In a statement to the media, LTA revealed that preliminary investigations showed that a malfunctioned water pumping system at the Bishan station allowed water to collect in the tunnel during torrential rain last Saturday, which inadvertently led to the disruption of service.

In response to the flooding, SMRT immediately deactivated the track power supply as a safety measure, reports The Straits Times.

The LTA spokesman said:

“Under normal circumstances, rainwater runoff accumulated in the adjacent storm water sump pit would have been siphoned off by a system of pumps.

“Yesterday, the water pumping system malfunctioned, resulting in rainwater overflowing from the storm water sump pit into the tunnel opening and accumulating at the lowest point of the tunnel, between Bishan and Braddell stations.”

The pump system has since been repaired, while checks were conducted on the other pump systems located on the North-South and East-West lines.